Whilst teaching in the UK I occasionally had the opportunity to teach cooking as part of the curriculum, because the food technology teachers generously allowed me into their space and supported me with the help and supervision of students. I loved teaching the students about food from other countries and cultures, as well as teaching students the numerous skills associated with cooking:

Planning and organising.

Communication and collaboration.

Managing time and ingredients.

Reading and following instructions.

Understanding quantities and conversions.

Managing food hygiene and waste.

. A few years ago a wonderful ex-colleague of mine Laure Kruger started the French cooking club as an after school activity, as I was delighted to be able to take over from her when she left. We made a range of sweet and savoury dishes such as <<quiche lorraine>>, <<crêpes>>, <<croque-monsieur>> and <<mousse au chocolat>>.

The students and I loved the French cooking club (because who doesn't like eating yummy food!), but one of the challenges of this activity was that the students worked in groups preparing a dish between them, and I had to ensure that each student was able to contribute equally to the preparation and cooking of the food, practising the different skills of chopping, frying and grating etc. When Kristin Maurer (another amazing colleague of mine) became involved in the club, she significantly improved the activity by finding and creating recipes that each student could complete individually. She bought some small aluminum baking tins suitable for single use, and at each cooking session students were able to prepare a recipe on their own from start to finish. The students made chili-lime chicken, homemade pasta and meatballs, chocolate cookies, sticky chicken and rice and nachos.

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JULIET Orchard

I have been teaching French and Spanish for 13 years. I qualified and started teaching in the UK, and I currently work at Shanghai Community International School, China. I have experience teaching GCSEs and IB DP and MYP. Find out more about me within these blog pages or below at Linked In.